Course: PHY 6346, Electromagnetic Theory 1, Meeting times: MWF, Period 8 (3:00-3:50pm), room 1220
Instructor: J. N. Fry, Office: 2172, Phone: 392-6692, e-mail: fry @ phys.ufl.edu, Office Hours: M 9, Tu/Th 6 [schedule]
Grader: Elisa Todarello, Office: 2038, Phone: 273-3160, e-mail: todarello @ phys.ufl.edu, Office Hour: MW, Period 5

Course Description: PHY 6346 is the first semester of the graduate core sequence in Electromagnetism, studying Maxwell's equations in general and in specific situations. The objectives of the course are (i) to study electrodynamics at a theoretically sophisticated level; (ii) to develop mathematical techniques useful for solving problems in E&M as well as other areas of physics; (iii) to develop problem solving skills; (iv) to prepare the student (if necessary) for the preliminary exam. Topics to be covered include

• electrostatics: Coulomb's Law, the electric field, Gauss's Law
• scalar potential, Poisson's equation, Green's functions
• methods: images, separation of variables, harmonic functions
• multipoles, polarizable media
• magnetostatics: Biot-Savart Law, the magnetic field, Ampère's Law, vector potential, magnetizable media
• time varying magnetic field: Faraday's Law, induction
• full, time-dependent Maxwell equations
• conservation laws, energy flux (Poynting vector), momentum density, momentum flux (Maxwell stress tensor)

Grading: Grading will be based 50% on periodic homework sets, and 25% each on a midterm and final exam. The midterm exam will be on Wednesday October 16, 7:00–9:00 pm, in room 1101. Midterm Formula Page The final exam is Wednesday, December 11, 12:30–2:30pm (Exam Group 11C) Students are expected to complete work at the time it is due, or as soon as possible in case of illness or other accepted, documented unusual circumstance. Homework solutions will be posted as soon as all papers are turned in, and it is not fair to your colleagues to delay this. In extreme cases I will post the names of people who are holding up the availability of solutions. There will be no last-minute makeups accepted.

The following paragraphs of advice on how to do well in Physics are lifted from one of my colleagues. This is a graduate course, and you are free to make your own choices, but you should listen to what they say:
  I do not plan to take daily attendance, but it is to your advantage to attend class. You may spend most of your time sleeping or texting, but in between you will have the opportunity to learn what subjects I think are important, and you can then concentrate on these subjects during your reading. If by some unfortunate set of circumstances you do miss class, do not ask me if I said anything important — everything that I say is important. Instead, ask a classmate; she or he is likely to give an honest answer, and you won't offend me. There will be a substantial number of examples discussed in class that are not in the textbook, and examples in class often appear on tests. If you miss class you will not do well in this course.
  Do the assigned homework. This is the drudge part of physics, but it is absolutely necessary. We will learn grand ideas and see their wondrous applications in class. But, your understanding is only superficial unless you can apply these same grand ideas to completely new circumstances. In course work, this is usually done with homework problems. Do not be surprised if the homework is frustrating at times; solving one challenging problem makes the next much easier. And homework problems often appear on tests. Doing all of the homework is the easiest way to improve your grade. Not doing homework is the easiest way to lower your grade.

Required text:

• John David Jackson [ucb] [lbl] [cv] [aip px] [science.ca], Classical Electrodynamics, Third Edition (Wiley, 1999)   [errata] .

Other books:

• Andrew Zangwill, Modern Electrodynamics (Cambridge, 2013). [errata]
• David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electromagnetics, 3/E (Addison-Wesley, 1999), 4/E (2013)
• L. D. Landau and E. M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields, Fourth Revised English Edition.
  Course of Theoretical Physics Volume 2 (Pergamon, 1975, 1987, 1997). ^[1]
• L. D. Landau, E. M. Lifshitz, and L. P. Pitaevskii, Electrodynamics of Continuous Media, 2d edition.
  Course of Theoretical Physics Volume 8 (Pergamon, 1960, 1984, 1993). ^[1]
• Francis E. Low, Classical Field Theory: Electromagnetism and Gravitation (Wiley, 1997).
• Mark A. Heald and Jerry B. Marion, Classical Electromagnetic Radiation, 3rd edition (Brooks Cole, 1994).  
  (J. B. Marion, 1st ed, Academic Press, 1965). ^[1] Dover reprint
• W. K. H. Panofsky and M. Phillips, Classical Electricity and Magnetism, 2nd edition (Addison-Wesley, 1962).
• Edward Purcell, Electricity and Magnetism (McGraw-Hill, 1984). ^[1]
• Julian Schwinger, Lester L. DeRaad, Jr., Kimball A. Milton, and Wu-yang Tsai, Classical Electrodynamics (Perseus, 1998). ^[1]
  “The teaching of electromagnetic theory is something like that of American History in school: you get it again and again. Well, this is the end of the line.”
• Davison Eugene Soper, Classical Field Theory (John Wiley & Sons, 1976). ^[2]

  ^[1] Gaussian units; ^[2] Lorentz units

• George Arfken, Mathematical Methods for Physicists, Third Edition (Academic Press, 1985).
• M. L. Boas, Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences, 3rd edition (Wiley 2006)
• Philip M. Morse and Herman Feshbach, Methods of Theoretical Physics, Parts I, II (McGraw-Hill, 1953).
• Harry M. Schey, Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus, Third Edition (W.W. Norton, 1997).

Kevin Schmidt's Possibly Useful Books for Classical Electromagnetism, with comments

The following quote (attributed to Sidney Coleman) captures a common reaction to Jackson: Scientists tend to overcompress, to make their arguments difficult to follow by leaving out too many steps. They do this because they have a hard time writing and they would like to get it over with as soon as possible.... Six weeks of work are subsumed into the word “obviously.”

This and that:
Physical Constants from the Particle Data Group
JavaScript Calculator with built-in SI and cgs constants [1996 values]
Math trivia, Akira Hirose Math Notes
Charles Augustin de Coulomb, Accuracy of Coulomb's law, John Robison
More than you wanted to know about δ-functions from
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss, Siméon Denis Poisson, Pierre-Simon Laplace
Renormalized potential for an infinite line charge, also see arXiv:physics/0503107 (in Portuguese)
George Green, George Green, Mathematician (Nottinghamshire History). The Green of Green Functions (Physics Today, December 2003) The Green of Green Functions (Nottingham)
An Essay on the Application of Mathematical Analysis to the Theories of Electricity and Magnetism [arXiv] [google books]
Proof that the Neumann Green's function in electrostatics can be symmetrized, K. J. Kim and J. D. Jackson, Am. J. Phys. 61, 1144 (1993)
images in parallel mirrors (closeup)
Potential at the center of a cube, 3d
Fourier sin series for step function
Fourier sin series for δ(x−x') (max = 8, 32, 128, 1024), zoom
Green's function for 2D square
Harmonic functions, C[Ψ]
Legendre polynomials: Rodrigues' Formula and recursions
P_l(cosθ) vs. θ and vs. (l+½)θ
Legendre polynomial expansion of step function
Spherical Harmonic Angular Distributions
Spherical Harmonics
Bessel functions, P₁₀₀, zeroes x_0n, x_1n of J₀(x), J₁(x)
Bessel series expansion of step function
More about Bessel functions

Nobel Prize Predictions, 2010

Cosmic Variance, sean carroll, @seanmcarroll, Leaves on the Line, @defjaf, In the Dark, @telescoper, Quantum Frontiers, @preskill, @LKrauss1, The Insoluble Pancake, Starts With a Bang!, @StartsWithABang!
Skeetobite Weather, computer tracks
Comet ISON
Bohemian Gravity, Mr Higgs Twist [LHC]

Class Diary

Homework: Problem solving is a skill learned only through practice. Take advantage of the homework as an opportunity to learn how to recognize the right approach to a problem before exam time and it becomes too late. While I encourage you to discuss the assignments with each other, what you turn in must represent your own work. As we also do when publishing research articles: if you obtain significant information from a published or human source, cite that source. This will often be as little as "Jackson, eq. (10.43)". If you work together, please identify other members of your working group. This edition of the textbook uses SI (mks) units, at least until the chapters on relativity. Correct solutions to the assigned problems will be in appropriate units. Best answers are reduced to simplest terms; ½ tan⁻¹[2az/(a²−z²)] is and is not the same as tan⁻¹(z/a) . And, please be sure that in the end your elegant solution in fact answers the question asked!
Three Tips for Solving Physics Problems

1. Homework 1. Due Monday, August 26. Solution
2. Homework 2. Due Monday, September 2. Solution
3. Homework 3. Due Monday, September 9. Solution
4. Homework 4. Due Monday, September 16. Solution
5. Homework 5. Due Wednesday September 25. Solution
6. Homework 6. Due Monday September 30. Solution
7. Homework 7. Due Monday October 7. Solution

   Midterm Formula Page

University Policies: Students are expected to know and comply with the University's policies regarding academic honesty and use of copyrighted materials. Cheating, plagiarism, or other violations of the Academic Honesty Guidelines will not be tolerated and will be pursued through the University's adjudication procedures.
  “Students requesting classroom accommodations must first register with the Disabilities Resources Program, located in the Dean of Students Office, P202 Peabody Hall. The Disabilities Resources Program will provide documentation to the student, who must then deliver this documentation to the instructor when requesting accommodations.”